Owner Candy Martin and her sons Eric Funnell, left, and Kyle Martin, look through rubble near the basement of the cabin where fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner barricaded himself and died in the cabin in Seven Oaks area of the San Bernardino Mountains on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The cabin burned to the ground following a gun battle between Dorner and law enforcement that left one deputy dead and another wounded on Feb. 12. (Rachel Luna / Staff Photographer)

Past coverage: Retrace the search for -- and discovery of -- Christopher Dorner from Day 1. View previous articles, photo galleries, videos, timelines and more. Details of the massive manhunt for Christopher Dorner and its fiery conclusion continued to emerge on Friday as San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon defended his department's efforts to capture the former police officer, who was believed to have killed four people. "We have nothing to hide," McMahon said, adding that he didn't believe the department made any mistakes in the manhunt that ended in a Barton Flats area cabin, where Dorner, 33, was found dead in a basement after the structure burned to the ground at the conclusion of a firefight with deputies.

San Bernardino County sheriff's Capt. Kevin Lacy, also confirmed that Dorner died of a gunshot wound to the head, but stopped just short of calling it suicide.

"We are not at this point ready to talk about the manner of death, and tell you whether or not it was the result of a self-inflicted wound or another round," he said. "We will tell you that as we are still compiling the information and putting our reports together, the information that we have right now seems to indicate that the wound that took Christopher Dorner's life was self-inflicted," Lacy said.

One of the most frequently-repeated questions to McMahon and other sheriff's officials at news conferences that took place Friday and Wednesday related to whether deputies could have found Dorner before he attacked and tied up a couple who discovered him inside a Big Bear Lake condo.

The condo, on Club View Drive in Big Bear Lake, is only a short distance away from where authorities set up their command post for search teams on the first day of the manhunt that began Feb. 7.

Friday, McMahon and others provided much greater detail on the search than at the earlier news conference, which was cut short after reporters peppered officials with questions on Dorner's proximity to search commanders, as well as controversies related to the use of tear gas canisters that likely started the fire where Dorner perished.

McMahon revealed Friday that on Feb. 7, deputies knocked on the door of the Club View Drive condo, where Dorner would be discovered days later. At the time, the door was locked and there was no reply.

Deputies had no legal right to force entry into residences at that point in the search, McMahon said Friday.

Although it appears to be almost certain Dorner escaped discovery on the first day of the manhunt, McMahon said the deputies who knocked on the door may have been lucky to avoid an ambush.

"In hindsight, it' probably a good thing he did not answer the door, based on his actions," McMahon said.

It's now confirmed the condo's door had been left unlocked as of that morning to let a maintenance worker in. The fact that someone had locked the front door in the meantime indicates Dorner was likely inside when deputies knocked on the door.

"It would appear that that was the case," McMahon said.

Dorner's discovery happened after noon on Tuesday, when Karen and Jim Reynolds arrived to prepared to condo for renters. Dorner assailed the couple, tied them up and stole their Nissan Rogue.

Karen Reynolds later escaped and called 9-1-1, setting off a multi-agency pursuit that ended hours later.

"The Reynolds family were heroes," McMahon said.

McMahon and other department leaders also provided more information on SWAT deputies' use of tear gas grenades near the end of Tuesday's deadly firefight.

At the Barton Flats cabin where the shootout occurred, shouts in which responders sounded as if they planned to burn the structure down could be heard on TV news.

McMahon said deputies "did not intentionally burn the cabin down."

He said the comments came from someone away from the tactical team, and "We`re looking into this and will deal with it appropriately."

There was no indication Dorner had an accomplice and it is unknown how he managed to carry a large cache of weapons to the Club View Drive condo in Big Bear from the site where his truck burned at nearby Big Bear Lake, McMahon said.

Deputies Jeremiah MacKay and Alex Collins did not know Dorner was inside the Barton Flats cabin when they were on seen to assist Fish and Game.

MacKay, 35, died in the gunfight, and Collins was wounded.

McMahon said "Our officers had not even pulled their guns out" when they were shot, Sgt. Trevis Newport.

Dorner's remains were found in the basement. His driver's license found on him.

Capt. Gregg Herbert, in charge of specialized enforcement, which includes SWAT, said bullets were snapping through the trees as more deputies more showed up.

"The entire time we were there, he was shooting at us when we moved," Herbert said. "We were required to take cover the entire time we weren't returning fire."

Herbert said deputies used an armored vehicle to deploy "cold" tear gas into the cabin, but it had no effect.

Entry into the cabin was not an option, he said.

The deputies made numerous announcements over for Dorner to come out, calling him by name, Herbert said.

A decision was then made to use hot gas, he said.

Herbert said "we heard a distinct single gunshot" from inside the house, and it sounded like a different gun than was fired at deputies.

McMahon said the public and media have taken advantage of analyzing the events, and the department respects the process.

The scene

Authorities on Friday removed the final roadblock that prevented motorists from accessing the area where the former police officer died at the end of Tuesday's gun battle.

Glass Road off Highway 38 in Barton Flats had been closed since Tuesday after the shootout left MacKay dead and Collins wounded.

No traffic had been allowed in or out of the area and residents had been told to stay in their homes. Authorities reopened Highway 38 on Wednesday, but Glass Road remained closed until Friday.

Patches of snow surrounded the burned-down cabin Friday where Dorner barricaded himself during Tuesday's shootout.

Emblems of life and death could be seen everywhere.

Pine cones surrounded the rubble. A charred ceramic angel sat on a scorched post and overlooked the remains of the cabin.

The chimney stood tall. Blown-out and burned glass rested on the fireplace mantle. Appliances were burned and turned on their sides.

Two tiny pink flags marked "Evidence. Do Not Touch" stood in a pile of debris. Amid the remains was a burned page from a book that said "The miracle of the mountain."

Among the first visitors to the site was Rick Heltebrake. Dorner carjacked the 61-year-old Angelus Oaks resident before Tuesday's deadly gun battle.

"I felt I saw a compassion inside of him," Heltebrake said. "He was concerned about my dog, it appeared. I'm not justifying anything else. That was one side of him I did see."

Heltebrake, a ranger at nearby Camp Tahquitz, was leaving the Barton Flats area Tuesday when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes, coming out of the trees.

Dorner was calm as he told Heltebrake what to do.

"I don't wanna hurt you - just get out and start walking up the road and take your dog," Dorner told him.

The cabin became a macabre roadside attraction Friday as dozens of people went five miles out of their way to snap cell phone photos of where the high-profile manhunt ended.

"It's kind of crazy to think he was here," said 35-year-old Jeff Latimer of Big Bear City. "I just wanted to see where it all ended."

Latimer was on his way to the post office Tuesday morning when a string of law enforcement vehicles came screaming down Highway 38 toward the cabin off Glass Road.

"I just sat in my driveway and watched all these cop cars fly by for like 20 minutes," he said.

It wasn't until be started receiving calls and texts from family members did he realize this was part of the hunt for Dorner.

"He must've passed right by my house," Latimer said.

Philip Smeltzer, a friend of the family who owns the cabin, said the owner, Candy Martin, has had a rough year but it was nothing compared to what the families of those reportedly killed by Dorner were facing.

Martin and her family stood in the ashes where their cabin once stood. Some dug through the rubble trying to salvage a few items while others stood in the driveway still in shock over what took place on their property only a few days prior.

The property, which houses a handful of rental cabins, a lodge and the main house would usually be rented to mostly families wanting to getaway from the city, said Kyle Martin, Candy Martin's son.

"We usually do rent it in the winter, Kyle Martin said staring toward the scorched remains. "I don't know my mom decided not to rent it out this winter."

The family didn't discuss what they planned to do with the property.

Search warrant

Dorner's belongings in La Palma were the subject of an investigation by authorities in Orange County.

According to a search warrant issued Feb. 6 by Judge James Stotler in Orange County and executed Feb. 8, police were given the authority to search Dorner's La Palma residence, for evidence to connect him to the Feb. 3 killings of Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan in Irvine.

Among the property they listed to be seized were plans, maps, diaries and journals of plans to kill the couple, personal identifying information about the two victims, as well as other members of the Quan family.

Police were also to seize any information about the Irvine residence and surrounding garages where Keith Lawrence and Monica Quan lived.

Investigators also were to seize handguns and instruments connected to the crime, laptops and electronic storage devices and any files or documents within.

Also to be seized were buccal swabs of DNA.

Police also interviewed Jason Young, who managed a Nevada restaurant Dorner frequented. According to police, Young said he and Dorner struck up a friendship because of a shared interest in firearms.

Young told police Dorner had many high-powered rifles and tactical firearms accessories. The restaurant manager later emailed photos he had received from Dorner of firearms, weapon sights, silencers and high capacity magazines that Dorner said he intended to sell on line on the website backpage.com.

Police also requested a search warrant of the business for all accounts associated with Dorner.

They searched Facebook for all its information attributed to Dorner's personal account, including his profile page, friends list, groups and networks to which he was a member and communications between Facebook and anyone regarding the user or her account.

Police also asked for an order barring Facebook from revealing the existence of the search warrant.

The Riverside County District Attorney's Office charged Dorner with murdering 34-year-old Riverside police Officer Michael Crain when he was in a patrol car with 27-yeard-old Officer Andrew Tachias early Feb. 7.

Tachias was wounded in the ambush.

Dorner also was charged with attempted murder of the wounded officer, as well as the attempted murder of two Los Angeles Police Department officers.

Dorner targeted police officers in a revenge plot, claiming that he was unjustly fired from the LAPD in 2009 after reporting that his training officer abused a mentally ill man during an arrest.